History Main / LivingBodysuit

* Rasputin in ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' is this. He has some part of the EldritchAbomination creature inside of him, which, when released is much bigger than Rasputin's normal body.

* ''Videogame/KingdomHearts'' Gives us Ansem or [[spoiler:Xeahnort's Heartless]]. Not only did he do this to [[spoiler: Riku]] earlier in the game, but he can command his Guardian to temporarily possess Sora ([[CallingYourAttacks "Submit!"]]), causing continual damage to the latter and opening him up for a follow up ([[CallingYourAttacks "Come, open your heart!"]]). However, this also means the Guardian is not around to block hits for him, so if you're good at avoiding the Guardian's attacks, you can retaliate.

** Jake often uses his elasticity to act as armor for Finn. On one occasion the situation is reversed unwillingly so Jake can control Finn to see how much he can take.

* During the 3rd TournamentArc in DragonBall, Kami takes posession of a human in order to infiltrate the Budokai and capture Piccolo. When Piccolo turns his trapping technique against him, Kami releases the man he posessed just before getting sucked into a jug. The man, Shen, upon waking up has no idea how he ended up in the tournament ring, or why everyone is applauding him.

In the process of DemonicPossession, {{Body Snatch|er}}ing, or similar body theft abilities, a Living Bodysuit is a type of MeatPuppet and [[BodyAndHost Host]] that acts somewhat like that of a SoulJar, as it allows the hijacker to act from within the character/victim via it mental or spiritual projection.

* In ''TheVampireDiaries'' a spell is used to possess [[spoiler:Alaric]] with [[spoiler: the ancient vampire Klaus.]] Given the level of [[spoiler: Klaus' apparent paranoia, this is likely to avoid exposing his real body to danger.]]

* Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'' has Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos, who in Robert Bloch's [[CthulhuMythos Mythos]] story "The Shadow From the Steeple" (arguably [[RunningTheAsylum non-canon]]), has one form that can possess humans.

* Creator/HPLovecraft's ''CthulhuMythos'' has Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos, who in Robert Bloch's [[CthulhuMythos Mythos]] story "The Shadow From the Steeple" (arguably [[RunningTheAsylum non-canon]]), has one form that can possess humans.

* ''VideoGame/BioShock's'' Big Daddies are perhaps literal examples of this trope, as they are made by grafting human organs into a diving suit.

* In ''AlanWake'', the Dark Presence wears the skin of Barbara Jagger to lure Alan and his wife out to her cabin on Diver's Isle, but strangely never drops this disguise even when it becomes obvious what she is. It eventually reveals itself to be [[spoiler: [[OneWingedAngel a swirling tornado of darkness]]. This is the closest thing it has to a "true form".]]

* ''[[DGrayMan D.Gray-Man]]'': [[TheHeartless Akuma]] are made by making a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with]] The Millennium Earl to bring back a recently deceased loved one. The price, unbeknown to the victims, is that the victim's soul is sealed in a [[PoweredByAForsakenChild skeletal machine]] [[AndIMustScream forced to obey him]] and the first thing they are forced to do is kill the person who wished them back and wear them like a Halloween costume. [[FateWorseThanDeath And this is only the beginning.]]

* An arguably nicer BioWare example is the sweet little girl Wild Flower in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire.'' The poor child has two entities battling for supremacy inside her. You end up having to forcibly evict one of them.

* In ''{{Bionicle}}'', [[TheChewToy Lewa]] becomes one of these for [[EldritchAbomination Tren Krom]] via a GrandTheftMe. He gets better, though.

** It's also one of the favourite party tricks of the Seers to the Throne in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening''.
* The Dominate discipline from ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' also had the Possession ability. The Animalism discipline had a similar ability that only worked on animals.

* VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX: [[spoiler:Until Neo Black Dragon recovers from his previous loss at the hands of Knight Gundam, his soul possesses the Zwauth and uses it as an avatar.]]

** In "The Lich", Finn discovers that [[spoiler:Billy is dead and the Lich has been possessing his corpse for years.]]

** When Illyria tried to return to life its body had been destroyed eons ago, requiring it to find a new one. [[spoiler: It takes Fred's, though the process kills her body. Fred is now BackfromtheDead, however, and sharing her body with Illyria.]]

* ''Franchise/BioShock's'' Big Daddies are perhaps literal examples of this trope, as they are made by grafting human organs into a diving suit.

* This happens to [[spoiler:Luke Castellan]] in the last few ''PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' books.

* VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX: [spoiler:Until Neo Black Dragon recovers from his previous loss at the hands of Knight Gundam, his soul possesses the Zwauth and uses it as an avatar.]]

* Two examples from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':

** This is also an ability of the Shan/Insects from Shaggai.

* Both angels and demons in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Rank-and-file demons can possess just about anyone; angels need people who are "vessels", and a vessel needs to give the angel permission to possess them. The most powerful angels, such as Michael (and Lucifer, who's also technically an angel) have one specific person as their designated vessel. It's implied that a vessel has some kind of "toughness" beyond that which is possessed by most mortals, as when non-vessels have been seen in encounters with angels, their eyes get burned out.
** The vessel thing runs in bloodlines. Lucifer spends most of Season Five wearing a fellow called [[PunnyName Nick]] whose wife and child had recently died; containing him does visible damage to the body, so they had the actor in creepy makeup. Exactly how inheritance and destiny interrelate on the subject of 'true vessels' is never elaborated upon, nor is whether Nick is related distantly to the Winchesters or to that guy Gabriel's always wearing, or if he's a lower class of vessel like Jimmy, whom Old Nick is making work short-term. Probably not related to either of Raphael's bodies, given they are black.

** Also in the TV Movie. The Master possesses Bruce the paramedic, but his ultimate goal is to [[spoiler: take The Doctor's body]]. He also happens to wear a BadassLongcoat with CoolShades.
*** in his defence, that is mostly to hide the fact the host body is dead and starting to decompose around him.

** In "The Lich", Finn discovers that [[spoiler:Billy is dead and the Lich has been posessing his corpse for years.]]

* [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelions]]. [[spoiler: Whether or not they have the souls of the pilots' mothers in them, they're biologically engineered organisms, restrained and controlled in a case of armor.]]

* The premise of ''Film/TheExorcist''.

* Edgar the Bug from ''Film/MenInBlack''.

** Also the Mi-go, some interpretations of Shoggoths, certain ancient wizards, [[spoiler:Hastur]], and [[spoiler:Y'Golonac]].

* The climax of ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'': Rincewind expects the Things From The Dungeon Dimensions to break through in the sky above Ankh-Morpork, tentacles waving, but all they really need to do is break into Trymon's mind.

** Most ghosts can do this too.

* In ''AlanWake'', the Dark Presence wears the skin of Barbara Jagger to lure Alan and his wife out to her cabin on Diver's Isle, but strangely never drops this disguise even when it becomes obvious what she is.
** Well, it does eventually reveal itself to be [[spoiler: [[OneWingedAngel a swirling tornado of darkness]]. This is the closest thing it has to a "true form".]]

* [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Satanael]] does this to one of your allies in ''SoulHackers''. Played for all the horror possible (normal and [[BodyHorror otherwise]]) when he ''bursts'' out. He doesn't make it ''all the way'' out.

* Happens to [[spoiler:Billy]] in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''.
** A willing example happens to Jake on multiple occasions.
** However the situation is reversed unwillingly so Jake can control fin to see how much he can take.

** ''{{Ghostwalk}}'' is a setting that details on a city of ghosts characters can venture to, and become part of. One type of ghost the characters can choose to be allows for them to possess specific races they choose after gaining the ability.

** The skinthief, an obscure monster from {{Ravenloft}}, invokes this trope by being ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* An arguably nicer BioWare example is the sweet little girl Wild Flower in ''JadeEmpire.'' The poor child has two entities battling for supremacy inside her. You end up having to forcibly evict one of them.

* In the ''[[DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries Devil May Cry anime]]'', the secret BigBad, Sid, is a weak demon who late into the series shows to have the power to literally wear humans like the trope's name suggests, grusomely tearing the skin from the body and using black magic to make himself appear as the now dying or already dead victim.

* ''Videogame/KingdomHearts'' Gives us Ansem or [[spoiler:Xeahnort's Heartless]]. Not only did he do this to [[spoiler: Riku]] earlier in the game, but he can command his Guardian to temporarily possess Sora ([[CallingYourAttacks "Submit!"]]), causing continual damage to the latter and opening him up for a follow up ([[CallingYourAttacks "Come, open your heart!"). However, this also means the Guardian is not around to block hits for him, so if you're good at avoiding the Guardian's attacks, you can retaliate.